They are achievers in their own fields and they excel in their professions also. They are also achievers in their homes also, as they successfully reared up their children, did the duties of home as a wife, succeeded to be an able daughter-in-law, daughter or sister. They today turned up in a programme ‘Meet the Achievers’ at Press Club, Kolkata, today, to speak in favour of the parts to be played by women themselves to lift women of the grass-roots level up, as a part of celebrating the International Women’s Day, two days before the actual date, hosted by Press Information Bureau, Kolkata. They are Dr Dhriti Banerjee, Director, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Dr Shanta Dutta, Director, ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Dr Madhumita Dobe, Former Dean, Director, Professor and Head of the Department of Health Promotion and Education, All India Institute of Health and Public Hygiene (AIIH&PH) and Smt Tahrina Nasrin, the only Muslim lady to cross English Channel in 2015 in 12 hours 38 mins and Gibralter Channel in 2022 in 4 hours 23 mins. An Income Tax official, she annihilated all social criticisms, a very common village custom to achieve her goals, to be a swimmer of national and international repute even hailing from a small village in Uluberia, Howrah.
While speaking in the Programme Dr Shanta Dutta opined that apart from Government initiatives, there ought to be non-governmental initiatives also to lift women of grassroots level up from the social and cultural drudgeries. The outlook has changed a lot regarding women and there is a requirement of more positivity, while we consider the abilities of the women she said.
Dr Dhriti Banerjee spoke in favour of the positive initiatives to be taken by women to lift the women in totality and referred to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. She said, women now are endowed with multi-abilities, On one hand she is mother, on the other, she is wife, daughter, daughter in law, sister, sister-in-law and an able employee of an organisation. And she performs all the duties with elan, which is quite unlikely in males.
Dr Madhumita Dobe dwelt on the scientific truth that the life-span of women are somewhat more than men and they are really empowered as multi-taskers. What is required, she said, is the change in the outlook of the society at large as she referred to the various Government initiatives available to empower women more.
Smt Tahrina Nasreen stated the social environment from which she hails, and described her long fight annihilating the tides of deprivation, under the guidance of her mentor Masadur Rahman Baidya. She has completed her Masters in English major from Vidyasagar University, as she came out with flying colours as an able swimmer to cross the seas, especially that of the tides raging above 6.9 metres in height of English Channel, making a record as the first Muslim woman to do so, despite her surrounding people’s frowning which hints at the backwardness of the community.
